Palpable Rush
by wil-spike-bloodyhell
Summary: Set after Angel's Season 5 Episode "Unleashed" the story takes a turn from cannon and explores another way of how Spike might become corporeal with a little help from Faith. Please RR.


Previously on Angel... Episode 5.03 "Unleashed"

SPIKE: Yeah. OK. Truth is I just don't want anyone else knowin' about my condition, right? Last thing I need is this getting back to Angel.

FRED: Spike, I appreciate your condition, but right now we have a more pressing priority. Like finding and helping this girl.

SPIKE: And me? I'm just left to fade into nothingness?

FRED: There's no need to be dramatic. Look, just try not to disappear, and we'll figure it out, eventually. This place? We have access to everything.

**Palpable Rush**

written by wil

**Chapter One: Gone But Not Forgotten**

"... So tell me again why you need ME to find B. for you? You've got a nice piece of bankroll law firm teamin' with evil mojo to search the world for her if you wanted, but you don't. I'm not even tight with her, you could'a called Red, Xander, or Giles, but you don't. You called me. So I gotta ask, why?" Faith said as she sat with her legs crossed, leaning back on the edge of Angel's desk as she lit up a cigarette. She knew that her sitting on his shiny new desk would drive Angel up a wall.

Angel didn't even have time to answer before Spike passed through the wall into the office. The specter paused surprised to see Faith sitting there, but he merely smiled engagingly as he gave her a once over"Good look f'you. Should I call you Girl Friday"

Faith glanced up at Spike and then back at Angel"Figures he'd haunt you."

"Don't remind me" Angel sighed as he deftly slid an ashtray under Faith's wrist to catch the teetering ash that clung to her cigarette.

Faith grimaced at Angel's action and purposely flicked ashes onto the desktop giving him a cocky little smirk. She cast a measured glare at the blonde specter, "For the record, not wearing any office flunky skirt suits and dopey heels."

Spike merely looked bored and growled at Angel expectantly"So, uh, wanna tell me why you want me here, Oh Great Forehead"

Angel cast Faith a pleading look then sneered at Spike"I never WANT you Spike... Faith's here to help us with your...problem. I don't want you taking up any more of Fred's time or hurting her quarterly expense budget anymore."

"Funny, looks to me like the slayer's here to scorch your lacquered desk" Spike retorted trying to cover the annoyance he felt knowing that Angel had taken his situation into his own hands.

"Faith's here to what" Faith growled and glared at Angel"You said I was here to help you find Buffy... You lyin' sack of shit"

Spike raised an amused brow"Buffy's in Rome, I already know where she is and whut does that have to do with anything? Why'd you lie to the doe-eyed defender, here"

"Because I knew she'd leave if she knew she'd have to deal with YOU Spike" Angel leaned back in his chair to rub at his temples. "We're all tired of you and you're smart remarks, your constant popping up—especially in my bedroom."

Faith looked over at Spike"Actually she's in Arkansas as of three days ago. Big Daddy vamp down there's been stirrin' up trouble… wait, what're you doin' in Angel's bed"

"Bed_room_. _Not bed_. 'Sides the poufter couldn't touch me if he wanted to—" he passed a hand trough Faith's shoulder to demonstrate, "non corporeal and all." Then he mumbled softly more to himself than anyone, "Can't even diddle my own in this ruttin' state."

Faith smirked a bit at the comment then turned her wrath back on Angel, "What do you expect me to do for this jerk?"

"I thought maybe you'd have some ideas… Rupert said you might know about this sort of thing, but I won't hold you in LA. You can go back and join the others in Arkansas if you don't want to stay here and"

"Baby-sit? No thanks," She hopped off the desk"And you say 'go back' like I'll be welcomed with open arms. Nah, I've got...elsewhere to be."

"Really… where" Spike asked seeing through Faith's lie all too well.

Angel watched the interaction carefully. He could tell something about Spike got under Faith's skin. Part of him figured it was just Spike's tendency to be an egotistical smart-ass.

She slowly leered at Spike"Riiight." Faith made her way to the door, her hand pausing for a moment on the knob"You need somethin',you know you can call me, Angel; but do us both a favor and just let me in on the gag from the get-go next time."

"It's a deal. I can have Harmony call up a car for you" Angel offered as he sat there brooding.

"Nah, gonna walk. Kinda wanna see the city before I take off" she smirked a little"Later, Angel." She gave a small wave and headed out of the office.

"Thanks so much for chasing her off" Angel growled, but as he looked up Spike was already gone. "Wonderful. The only time I want him here to yell at him and he's gone."

**Chapter Two: Trigger Happy**

Faith hit the button with the little star next to it indicating the street level and leaned back against the wall of the elevator watching the doors close. She let out a relieved sigh and closed her eyes for a moment, only to have her thoughts interrupted rudely.

"I was serious in there. Where are you off to" Spike asked from where he stood in front of her.

She opened one annoyed eye"Can't you take a hint"

"Can I? Yeh." He answered with a shrug, "Will I? No."

The elevator doors opened on the ground floor. Faith opened her eyes and slipped out the door before she stopped and turned back"You've got thirty seconds."

"T'do whut" He asked appearing beside her when she realized the elevator doors where already closed.

Faith spun around again in frustration"To gimme a reason to stick around, cuz you obviously want somethin'. Fred told me you can't leave the building, but news flash, ghost boy, I can."

"Can't leave the city. I can leave the building" he defended then slumped his shoulders a bit, his hand jammed into the pockets of his duster. "Look, I know Angel lied to get you 'ere, but-was wondering how he thought you'd be able to help me? Not that I'm asking."

She sighed"The city, whatever. By the way, thanks for clarifyin' your boundries, I can see the sights in Frisco."

He still looked at her expectantly"You didn' answer my question."

"Caught that did you? Well genius, I wasn't planning on an answer, didn't want to hurt your feelings, if you even feel anything."

"Would you, if I asked" he looked anywhere but directly at Faith. "...would you help me"

Her brow furrowed, and she paused for a few moments considering his words"Yeah."

He finally met her gaze and nodded"Well that's somethin'." He shifted a bit uncomfortably"I know we didn't part well."

"Well, yeah, because you were bein' an asshole" She said as a matter of fact.

"Yeh, but you tend to be a bitch back."

"Yeah" she snorted"and 'back' would be the operative word there. Guess you expected me to, what? Just take that crap from you"

He shook his head"No, you're too much like me."

She grimaced a little at the thought as she played with a stapler that was on the desk in the lobby. Faith tried her best to busy herself with whatever she could get her hands on.

"Part of what I like 'bout you. You know whut you want and you take it-to hell with whut anyone else thinks. Takes courage" he said with a nod then thought"In my case stupidity, but courage on your part, I feature."

"Uh-huh," she muttered then dropped the stapler and looked up at him now that the uncomfortable talking was over. "So, if you have any clue how you want me to help you, tellin' me might be a good idea."

"I don't really know... Miss Wizard in the lab hasn't found anything yet. Fred's been so busy with Angel's list of helpless that the one in front of their bloody faces doesn't take precedent. Think he's gettin' down tinglies for that dog-girl he saved the other day. Anyway, mind if I tag along with you for a bit? Fun as it is driving Angel senseless-it wears a bit thin sometimes."

She shrugged and headed outside"Yeah, sure, whatever blows up your skirt."

Spike strolled along beside her out into the afternoon sun. They headed down the street past a few posh outdoor cafes and storefronts. Faith headed for a small bodega on the corner"So, what are you, a ghost or just disembodied"

"Somewhere in between" he shrugged watching her cruise the isles.

"So, if you're disembodied, that means somebody or somethin' did it on purpose. If that's true, then there's an out," Faith mused as she picked up a full sized bag of Cool Ranch Doritos. "You know, sorta like a trigger that'll rematerialize you"

"Could be-but I don't got a body anymore. It's ash in the rubble that's left of Sunnyhell," Spike commented curious about how she seemed to suddenly think so quickly on her feet.

She rolled her eyes, taking a liter of Vanilla Coke from the refrigerated case and plopping her stash on the counter to pay for it along a fresh pack of cigarettes"That's why I said rematerialized, dumb-ass. Pack of Marlbaros, thanks. Had to deal with this a few weeks ago, Giles knows too much about scary whatever's like this. Kinda creepy, actually."

"Whut happened a few weeks ago" he asked curiously tilting his head to the side as Faith took the plastic bag from the counter and headed back outside.

"Disembodiment, don't wanna get into it. So we should be lookin' for triggers, anything that, I dunno, makes your primitive mind wanna cling to this reality." She explained and then smiled a bit proudly at having remembered Giles speech.

"Sounds like you've been learnin' your vocab," Spike commented looking rather impressed.

"What, I can't just be a super-genius" She asked toying with him.

"Sure you could...part of the re-embodiment" he shot back with a smirk.

She stopped and looked at him"Y'know, for somebody who needs my help you sure as hell, have an ungrateful piss-face attitude."

Spike froze, he'd thought they were joking. His brow furrowed with apologetic worry and he held his hands up to her in mock surrender backing up a step or two.

Faith's eyes glittered as the vampire spook stood down. A smile tugged at the edge of her lips"Calm down, Sensitive, I'm jokin'."

He dropped his hands then gave her an uncertain side glance"So what was the trigger that brought back whoever was disembodied"

"An undeservin' piece of shit guy. So I'm guessin' if we get Buffy here, I mean she's got the undeservin' piece of shit thing down..."

Spike gave her a frigid warning glare.

"Right, sorry," Faith muttered opening her soda and taking a drink so she wouldn't have to say anything else. The normally sweet and carbonated drink felt like acid going down her throat.

"Wouldn't work with Buffy" Spike said simply. "And b'fore you say anything it just won't, awright? If that were the case it'd have worked already."

Faith capped the plastic bottle and merely looked dismissive as she sat on an ornate bench"Okay, no clue where that crazy ex of yours is but Harmony works in Angel's office, right"

He made a face"So you're sayin' sex is the trigger" catching on to her train of thought.

"Possibly. Actually last time it worked with just havin' the girl's mind cling to the guy, poor chick."

"But she came back right? She must've really loved him, if it worked to bring her back to her body and all" Spike reasoned as he appeared to sit next to Faith.

"Yeah, she does. I mean looked like, anyway, we need to get back on track." Faith said with a sigh as she pulled out the fresh pack she'd bought. She packed it against her palm and unwrapped it, pulling out a cigarette with her teeth. She looked off into the traffic of the busy street as she pat herself down for a plastic lighter and lit up"Can I ask you a stupid question"

"Sure" he answered following her line of sight.

"You're a vampire, and at the moment you're in the sun... so why aren't you lookin' around and enjoyin' it"

"I don't feel it" he said with a shrug. "I mean I see it-which I could do from inside the building, but there's no tactile touch. No warmth, no heat, can't barely tell if it's dark or bright."

"S'what I thought" Faith smiled a little, her features softened and relief seemed to wash over her.

"What" he asked obviously a bit amused by her reaction to his response"You think I'd burst into flames ghost or no"

"No, just, ghosts can feel things - move things without really tryin'. Tend to be tormented-"

"You don't think I'm not bloody tormented?"

"As I was sayin' before you opened your whiny-bitch mouth," Faith continued, Ghosts tend to have like unfinished business, while Disembodied basically means you're in limbo, and if you're in limbo then there's still a way we can get you back."

"So then maybe we should set out t'find that trigger" he said looking hopeful.

Faith sat up straighter looking proud of herself as she opened her bag of Doritos"That's my brilliant plan." She popped a full chip into her mouth to reward herself.

"If I wouldn't pass through you, I'd kiss you."

She smiled a little for a second in mid-munch and then shook her head"C'mon, we better get back and burn some'a Angel's money to fund this thing."

"Again, I'd kiss you," Spike said almost beaming, "just because I like the idea of Angel in debt."

**Chapter Three: Slide**

"Angel we need to talk," Fred said as she walked into his office and sat down in the chair beside Wesley who had been there already speaking with Angel.

"Fred, can it wait? Wes and I are in the middle of-"

"Something's wrong."

"I'm gonna take that as a 'no', then," Angel concluded dropping his pen on the desk, but he obviously looked concerned. Fred never actually interrupted him unless it was serious.

Wesley stood up and looked Fred over, "What is it? Are you alright?"

"Me?" she asked a bit surprised then nodded pushing her glasses up her nose and giving Wesley a faltering smile, "Oh me's—I mean I'm fine, it's Spike. I can't find him."

"Can we get through one crisis without mentioning Spike? He's not here, Fred. He disappeared."

"Oh no, Angel what if he doesn't come back?" Fred panicked and swallowed and stood up wringing her hands. "I had the charts and I was looking at them and I couldn't get it all… I thought he was being over dramatic last time we talked but I think he's in danger of—"

"Fred please calm down, he's just not in the building. He went out for a walk," Wesley explained calmly as he lead her back to sit down in the chair.

"A walk? Since when does Spike walk?" she said uncertainly glancing between both Wesley and Angel.

"Since Faith showed up this morning." Angel answered moving to the front of his desk and leaning against it as he regarded Fred. "I think he knows he screwed up and went to bring her back. We'll see how that works out. If he can pull it off—"

"What about the charming and good looks?"

It was Wesley's turn to look confused, "Pardon?"

"Come on Wes, we all know Spike thinks he's Mr. Suave around women," Fred sighed picking her clipboard up from the chair.

"Yes, but you do remember Faith's short stint with us? Let's just say Faith's charm can out match Spike's quite easily. I doubt he'll have much of an effect."

Fred fumed slamming the clipboard onto Angel's desk, "Oh but you all think I'd be putty in his ghost-hands? After what I've read I'd think twice."

Angel winced and looked at his desk pitifully, "Fred it's not—"

He sighed and tried to start again, "Anyway, I'm still not sure if she's coming back or not. Depends on Spike I guess and how badly he wants help. Did any of the information Giles sent help your work at all?"

"It looks a bit more mystical than scientific—maybe it's more in your department Wesley. Giles basically says that Faith's the key to this because she saved a disembodied soul just last week."

"She did? Fascinating…"

"Well sure it is, but if you read here," Fred pointed to a paragraph written in a lilting hand, "she didn't really have a choice."

"I like th' way you think, Faith" Spike commented as he turned back toward Wolfram and Hart.

Faith followed after him, walking slower on purpose to check out his ass. _Funny_, she thought, _being disembodied doesn't make me see through his ass. So I guess there's another plus to that._

"So why the non welcome if you decided to hightail back to the scoobies?" he asked conversationally.

"Hmm" She looked up at him suddenly"What"

"You'd mentioned to Angel that you weren't wouldn't be welcomed back by Buffy's lil' friends. Thought you saved the world with 'em and all... you and the principal seemed cozy."

Her face hardened a bit and she sped up to walk beside Spike, before she lit up another cigarette, not paying attention to the signs and California law of not being able to smoke in public buildings as she waltzed into the Wolfram and Hart lobby"Don't wanna get into it."

He nodded and cast a forlorn look to the burning cigarette in her hand"Fair enough. Smoking… mmm… I miss that."

Faith stepped into the elevator once it opened"First thing we need to do is get slides, find out how you react to different images."

"As long as it's not tray of Rupert's vacation slides, sure, anything."

She thought for a moment"Not a bad idea" She shook her head, almost wincing at what she'd just said"Not the vacation slides... but Giles, I mean he did it once, right"

"Whut took a holiday" Spike looked confused.

"Nah, man, rematerialized that chick. I could get him up here, got his number" Faith pat herself down looking for the little business card Giles had given her.

Spike looked at her incredulously"You forget he tried to kill me himself"

"Yeah, so? You tried to kill me." She answered stubbing out the butt of the cigarette on the elevator wall before the doors opened again.

Spike looked at Faith almost insulted"I never tried to kill you."

"Came at me all fists and insults, then ran to your big, fat, golden Buffy and offered to make me 'a footnote in history', sounds like a decent try to me." She sighed"B'sides I dunno if I can do it by myself, didn't actually do much helping. Giles isn't exactly grudge boy anyway."

"That… that was a tussle, some stupid lil' spat! And whut I told Buffy was... was an empty threat."

"Yeah because that was so obvious" She rolled her eyes with a sigh. "Look, whatever the deal is Giles can fix you like he fixed that girl."

His eyes narrowed for a moment"That girl... the girl Rupert brought back, it was you, wasn' it"

Faith's brow furrowed a bit"What the hell does it matter if it was"

"Well you're bein' shirty about somethin'...featured that was it" he shrugged. "Didn' mean to get you all up in arms."

"Odd question, why would I be shifty about somethin' like that" She thought for a moment"What the hell do you mean I'm bein' shifty"

"Shirty, mean's your bein' ill-tempered" Spike explained trying to defuse the situation he'd managed to work Faith into.

"Oh, shirty. God that doesn't make any sense! When Buff was doin' her impression of you, I thought she made that word up" She narrowed one eye, seemingly without knowing it, lost in thought for a moment"Is that even a real word"

"Impression of me? I think I'm officially terrified, and yes, it's a word."

"I mean yeah, if you're, like, wearin' twelve shirts at the same time..." she over-thought it with a mumble and then looked up at spike"You sure you don't mean 'shitty'"

"I'm positive-it's a Brit thing-we'll leave it at that" he chuckled. "If you don't want to talk about it, we won't talk about it... the limbo thing."

She grimaced"You're talkin' about it."

"Jus' to clarify, from now on, not another word. Scout's Honor" he gave a lopsided grin. "So... about those slides."

"More like, so Giles." She sighed"I'm tellin' you I can't do this by myself."

"Awright, you can bring in Rupert" he agreed"I told you-anything's fine."

She sighed, obviously relieved"Great... I'll stick around until he gets here, then you guys can do whatever and I can head out."

He frowned a bit"I thought you were gonna help... you said YOU couldn't do it alone. You're leaving"

She shrugged, pinching her cigarette out and tossing the remainder on the elevator floor then lighting another"Don't need me here if you got Giles."

"Right... how stupid of me to think otherwise." he mumbled then passed through the elevator doors before they opened.

**Chapter Four: They All Fall Down **

Faith watched Spike disappear, obviously confused, but shrugged and waited for the doors. Once they opened she headed out and towards Angel's office, walking in unannounced.

"Faith, you're back" Angel said looking up a bit startled he'd been talking with Wesley about the papers Fred had left behind.

"Hey. Wes." She turned back to Angel"Think I know who can help you with the whole Spike thing."

Wesley nodded his greeting as Angel looked hopeful"Really? Who"

"Giles." She flicked ashes onto Angel's desktop again and sat on the edge"Spike's not a ghost. He's just...disembodied. Giles rematerialized some chick like that already, bet he can do it again."

"You think Giles will want to help" Angel sounded a bit concerned. He'd been hoping Faith would say she could help and not pass off the opportunity. The files Fred had brought had been pretty explicit and it clearly stated that Faith had been sent here just as much to help herself as she was to help Spike.

"Really, who was it exactly that was disembodied" Wesley prodded carefully.

Faith didn't look at Wesley but sighed"A girl. Shut up." She glanced back at Angel"Yeah, I think if I asked him"

Wesley remained quiet watching Faith as intently as Angel had been.

Angel nodded and lifted the receiver of his desk phone"Sure, you can used the phone if you want."

"Nah, got a cell. I'm gonna head back to my place and call from there, cuz believe me there's gonna be yellin'. One thing, though."

"What's that" Angel asked putting the phone back in its cradle.

"After he gets here I'm gone. I mean, I'm dead to the world, no more calls, no more favors, okay? I'm lookin' to get lost...I mean really lost. One less Slayer's not gonna matter much now."

Wesley frowned at the gravity of Faith's comment.

Angel stood up worry creasing his features"Faith... are you okay?

She sighed and looked at Angel pointedly"Is it a deal or not"

"Only if you let me know why you're doing this" Angel said stubbornly.

"Fine by me" She got to her feet and walked out of the room.

Angel went after Faith and grabbed her arm"FAITH"

She turned around, so that she was inches from his face and bellowed back at him"ANGEL"

"Why are you being so cryptic suddenly" he asked softly. "What did Spike do to you?"

She sighed"I'm not bein' cryptic, you just don't gotta know everything about me."

There was a loud crash and Angel glanced behind him at the sound before returning his attention to Faith"You say you never wanna be found. That sounds serious. Not everything but, are you okay? That's all I want to know, and an honest answer would be nice."

"I'm not lookin' to share and grow" She also glanced towards the sound and motioned with her eyes"Better go pick up whatever it is that fell apart."

Spike appeared in front of Angel, Faith, and Wesley, who had come to see what the crash had been. Spike looked a bit wild-eyed as he started sputtering"I-I HIT it...the whatzit machine and shelf thing... I smashed it into shards"

Faith's brow furrowed"Yeah, all that and your Angel homing device works perfectly."

"You smashed what in the lab!" Angel growled glaring at Spike. "Wait you mean you affected something around you?"

"Yeh sorry about the lab stuff," Spike said then turned to Faith and grinned, "The thing is I figured out what the trigger is."

"Trigger" Angel looked confused as usual.

"The thing that anchors Spike's essence to this reality making him corporeal," Wesley translated. "At least I assume."

"I jus' need to test it... you can't go" Spike still fluttered with excitement.

Faith frowned"I can't go or Angel can't go"

He met Faith's gaze dead on"You can't go."

"Good luck I've been trying for the last twenty minutes," Angel sighed, looking at Spike with distain.

Faith shook her head"Ookay...gonna explain this t'me"

"It's you. Knowing you were like me… that you cared enough to come back, care f'me… the thought of you leaving of..." he reached out and actually grabbed Faith by the shoulders and kissed her lips hungrily.

Stunned she let him kiss her for a moment before roughly pushing him away.

"See" he gasped with a grin. "It's you."

"Yeah...so, are you all rematerialized or do you gotta concentrate"

He looked confounded"I haven't tried that yet..."

Angel looked shocked"What's going on"

"I think Faith's fixed Spike's problem," Wesley said blinking a bit in disbelief himself.

Faith shrugged, half ignoring Angel and pulling Spike into another violent kiss. When she came up for air and still held onto the collar of Spike's duster she gave it a tug headed for Angel's office. She slammed the door behind them.

"No!" Angel shouted bolting for the locked door. "Not the desk, anywhere but the desk!"

fin


End file.
